fresh&easy goes to Hollywood

I spent Thursday evening at our store on Hollywood Boulevard.

We're holding a free acoustic concert series there, in the courtyard, every thursday evening in September, in association with indie103.1. This one featured Nico Stai, while the next 3 feature Anya Marina, Meiko, and Greg Laswell respectively.



Indie103.1 seemed a natural partner to work with. Like fresh&easy, they don't seem to conform to the conventions of their industry.

I find they play an eclectic assortment of music, rather than the normal mainstream fodder, with a remarkable number of new artists. Steve Jones (of Sex Pistols fame) lunchtime show is just not like anything else I've heard on the radio, whilst Joe Escalante in the morning is essential listening on the way to work. They'll quite happily play the Clash (one of my all-time favorites), Radiohead (need I say more), someone I've never heard of, and a bit of Glen Campbell! At times, they'll even sound like talk radio.



Similarly, at fresh&easy, we don't fit under a conventional label. We offer the quality and freshness associated with a speciality market, yet our prices are more akin to a discounter. Our stores are much smaller than a supermarket, so you can get in and out easily, yet you can get all your regular shopping there. And we have our range of chilled prepared meals, fresh from our own kitchen, like little else.

Quite how indie103.1 evolved I have no idea. But fresh&easy simply came from asking all kinds of people what their ideal shopping trip would be, and then trying to deliver it.

That we're different to anything else is exactly why we exist. And that, surely, is how it should be.....